Archive for the ‘Andra Pradesh’ Category

GUNTUR/ONGOLE: With the reports of CPI-Maoist top brass calling for tactical counter offensive that involves lightning strikes on soft targets and remote and unprotected institutions like banks, industrial units and government offices, the police in Prakasam and Guntur district have gone into a tizzy.

As a precautionary measure, the Prakasam district police have advised the banks operating in Naxal dominated areas close to Nallamala to take adequate precautions. As many as 45 banks have been identified as soft targets for the Naxals� tactical counter offensive in Prakasam district.

�We have advised the banks to keep minimum amounts with them and deposit the balance in the main branches. Under no circumstances should they keep large amounts,� said Prakasam OSD RN Ammi Reddy. Similarly, the banks have been told to install security alarms and keep emergency communication systems ready.

The protection to the banks has also been increased. In the Naxal dominated areas like Bollapalli and Palnad, policemen have reportedly been planted in key areas.

Posing as farmhands and dailywage labourers, these personnel will act as embedded information gatherers on Naxalite movements, according to sources. The police have also formed CATS (counter action teams) to tackle the latest offensive.

Also, a small booklet called Kavacham (protective armour) containing safety and security related tips has been circulated among all �soft targets.� The booklet also has latest photographs of Maoist action team members which were obtained from the seized arms dumps in Vinukonda area.

Meanwhile, with the reports that Maoist State committee members Konapuri Ilaiah alias Sambasivudu and Sakhamuri Appa Rao are recruiting new cadres in Nallamala area, the police have intensified combing in the forest area.

On Friday night, the paths of the Naxals and the police crossed at Chinnamantanala village in Nallamala forest. However, a face-off was averted as the Naxals managed to give a slip to the cops.

Hyderabad, June 05: With the intelligence inputs sounding an alert about the possibility of a major attack by the Maoists in Andhra-Orissa Border (AOB) area, the State police began mobilising anti-Naxalite forces in the three districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.

Sources said over 100 hardcore Naxalites including several top cadres of the CPI (Maoist) and about 500 tribals have been regrouping on Orissa side during the last one week. On coming to know about this development, the Orissa government mobilised additional forces to the border districts.

On its part, the Chattisgarh government has put its police forces on high alert as the Maoists are known for carrying out major attacks in both Orissa and Chattisgarh States.

As part of intelligence sharing, both Orissa and Chattisgarh governments have alerted Andhra Pradesh a few days ago. Of late, the Maoists have gunned down a couple of people’s representatives in Visakhapatnam district and their movement in forest areas had become a matter of concern for the police.

With the latest inputs from Orissa and Chattisgarh, anti-Naxalite teams have launched intense combing operations in AOB area.

“There is no possibility of their launching a major attack in Andhra Pradesh. But, there is a danger of their crossing over to Andhra Pradesh after launching an attack in the two neighbouring States,” a senior police official told this website’s newspaper.

Home Minister K Jana Reddy, however, said: “There is nothing to worry. The police forces are already on high alert,” he said

Warangal, May 12: Home minister K. Jana Reddy on Saturday held talks with arrested Naxalite leader K. Rajanna, secretary of Jana Shakti, who is lodged in the Central prison.

The meeting between the home minister and the Naxalite leader was unexpected and took prison officials by surprise. Mr Reddy had an animated talk with Mr Rajanna for about 15 minutes on conditions at the jail and prison reforms.

The ailing Naxalite leader complimented the home minister for meeting him. “Mr Jana Reddy’s initiative is a revolutionary step,” he added.

After inspecting conditions at the high security prison here, Mr Reddy, who was on a surprise visit, expressed his wish to speak to the Jana Shakti leader to know an inmate’s view. Jail authorities then requested Mr Rajanna to meet the home minister and the former immediately obliged.

Answering a question posed by Mr Rajanna, the home minister said that the government was thinking of releasing eligible prisoners during Independence Day.

The Jana Shakti leader urged the home minister to implement the new jail manual and do away with the old one. “We are doing our best to turn prisons into reform centres rather than punishment centres,” said Mr Reddy.

“The government will soon open a community prison to give inmates more freedom.” Mr Reddy also enquired about the Mr Rajanna’s health and about the amenities at the Naxalite barrack.

WARANGAL: Police on Thursday unearthed eight landmines, weighing two kg each, in steel cans pitched allegedly by members of CPI (Maoist), targeting the police engaged in combing operations in Kothaguda Mandal in this district.

Police said while four landmines were unearthed between Konapur and Potlapur villages on the cart track, another four were unearthed at a junction leading to Alligudem, Pochapur and Chouledu villages near Damerathogu in the mandal.

Meanwhile, in a separate operation, police unearthed a dump, allegedly belonging to CPI (Ml) praja prathighatana Naxal group, near Kambalapally in Mahabubabad area and recovered one spring field rifle, 10 live rounds and one 8 mm rifle from the dump.

The district police had arrested two persons and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from them during search operations at Mulugu Mandal.

Police recovered 110 live rounds of .303 pistol, 110 live rounds of 8 mm revolver, 35 live rounds of 410 muskets, 25 charge clips and one magazine of .303 pistol.

HYDERABAD: History will be created on Monday as Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy arrives at Manala, a remote village on the Nizamabad-Karimnagar district border, in Armoor Assembly constituency to participate in the Praja Patham mass contact programme.

The 12,000-odd residents of Manala, which is in the midst of a thick forest, 100-km north of Nizamabad, and 14 other hamlets have never seen a Chief Minister coming there. Dr. Reddy will participate in a public meeting and join community lunch and spend over two hours from 12.15 p.m.

The very mention of Manala used to send shivers down the spines of the police and the people till two years ago, for it was the bastion of the erstwhile People’s War Group.

Glory past

For over two decades, naxalites of the banned outfit had a virtual sway over the tribal village as elected representatives or the police never dared to visit the place. The village hit the headlines on June 17, 2001, after 10 naxalites, including six members of newly formed People’s Guerrilla Army (PGA), were killed by the PWG members on suspicion that they had indulged in covert operation to eliminate top leaders of the party.

Again on March 7, 2005, the village witnessed a bloodbath when 11 naxalites were killed in an alleged encounter with the police.

Manala is also known as the only village where a 40-foot-tall martyrs’ memorial for women naxalites had been constructed.

Local legislator and former Minister S. Santosh Reddy told The Hindu on Sunday that the fear of naxalites had prevented elected representatives from visiting the village. “Dr. Reddy’s visit will boost the morale of tribals, who have suffered due to the presence of naxalites,” he added.

“Argul Rajaram was the only Minister to have visited the village ever — to lay the foundation stone for an electricity sub-station in 1979, much before the advent of naxalites,” he said.

Rattled by unabated attacks by Maoist guerrillas, security forces are wondering if they should kill the long underground leaders of a four-decade-old insurgency that shows no signs of ending.

The home ministry has convened a series of meetings in south Indian city of Hyderabad to review the existing strategy that clear is not proving effective enough to tackle the rebel violence, IANS reported.

The most dramatic Maoist offensives in recent times have included a major attack on a Bihar jail, the assassination of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Sunil Mahto and the slaughter of 49 policemen and militia members in Chhattisgarh.

Following the Hyderabad meeting Friday would be similar conferences in Patna April 16 and in New Delhi April 24. Attending these meetings would be members of the Anti-Naxal Task Force and the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG).

An anti-Maoist Coordination Center meeting chaired by new Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta will be held in New Delhi April 24. Informed sources said the ministry would take a fresh look at its counter-Maoist strategy and examine the feasibility and efficacy of the new doctrine to fight the rebels by increasing the number of security personnel in the affected areas.

The officials will also examine the feasibility of accelerating development work in the areas where the Maoists operate, drawing to their cause thousands of poor and landless workers. Maoists, whose rebellion started in India in May 1967, are most active today in states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

They have refused to give up violence despite appeals from Maoist leaders in Nepal with whom the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has had long-standing fraternal links.

The meetings would also look at steps to strengthen security to irrigation works in Bihar. One suggestion put up by some security forces that they need to ‘target’ the Maoist leaders — an official euphemism for killings as was done systematically in Punjab in the 1980s.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has suggested that targeting prominent leaders would leave the Maoist cadres rudderless. Additionally, by eliminating key leaders, the security forces hope to spark a leadership tussle among the cadres so as to further undermine the guerrillas, whose fighting strength is estimated at a few hundreds.

The home ministry also favors improving intelligence gathering in Maoist-infested areas to be one step ahead of the guerrillas. The government’s strategies would get finishing touches at these three meetings.

HYDERABAD: At least 10 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) from Andhra Pradesh are expected to figure in the 83 projects that the Centre’s Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) cleared for notification at its meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. These projects, for which land has been acquired but the notification kept on hold by the Centre due to the land acquisition controversy created by the Nandigram incidents in West Bengal, will take off full steam now, a state government official told TOI.

With the group of ministers (GoM) having cleared the 83 projects, the notifications are expected to be issued in a week’s time by the Union commerce ministry.

The major project which will get an impetus is the Brandix textile SEZ in Visakhapatnam. Having already employed about 500 people, the Brandix India Apparel City Private Limited with an area of 404.70 hectares, had been threatening to pull out unless the notification comes about soon so that construction work could begin.

Another major project that is expected to be cleared is the ONGC-promoted port-based multi-product SEZ in Kakinada. Several IT SEZs from the state are to be notified following the central clearance on Thursday. These include the 16.29 hectare Raheja IT/ITES SEZ in Madhapur (Ranga Reddy district), the 10.62 hectare DLF IT/ITES SEZ also in Ranga Reddy district, the 10 hectare AP Techno Projects Pvt Ltd IT/ITES SEZ in Hyderabad, the 10.52 hectare IT/ITES SEZ of Satyam Computer Services Ltd in Bahadurapalli, Hyderabad, another 12.14 hectare Satyam SEZ in Hyderabad, and three IT/ITES SEZs promoted by Maytas Properties Pvt Ltd in Qutbullapur, RR district (29.85 hectares); in Medchal mandal, RR district (14.16 hectares); and Serilingampally in RR district (15.92 hectares). According to state government officials, the notification of these SEZs would give a great fillip to the industrial and IT growth of the state. “Even before the notification, a major IT major has booked huge space in the Raheja SEZ. Similarly, construction is almost complete on one of the SEZ’s promoted by Satyam. Once the notification comes, there will be a boom in IT and industrial activity in the state,” an official said.

HYDERABAD: Notwithstanding the success of raising coffee plantations in the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam district, The AP Forest Development Corporation (APFDC) is facing problems from the outlawed Maoists who are allegedly instigating tribal people to occupy the plantations.

The extremists are also preventing the tribals from attending to the works in the coffee estates located in the remote areas and several incidents of arson including targeting the properties of the corporation during the last nine months were reported.

The issue figured at the State- Level Protection Committee (SLPC) meeting held here ten days ago where the officials expressed concern over the spurt in the extremist activity which was adversely affecting their work.

“The attacks indicate that the Naxalites are trying to take the tribals back into their fold, by propagating the idea of distribution of APFDC coffee estates among them.

They are also trying to gain the sympathy of the tribals by conducting famine raids but it is affecting the livelihood of the tribals as large-scale employment is being created on these tracts by the corporation,” officials of the forest department told this website’s newspaper.

According to them, the APFDC is raising coffee plantations over more than 4,000 hectares in the reserve forest areas in Visakhapatnam district. Coffee production in 2006 was around 1,000 MTs, fetching a revenue of Rs 9 to 12 crore. A production target of around 1,500 MT has been fixed for this year.

“The operations in these plantations are expected to create 6 to 7 lakh mandays of employment all round the year to the tribals in these remote Agency areas,” they said.

The APFDC has facilities like coffee pulping machinery, drying yards and godowns in the vicinity of the estates located in the GK Veedhi, Chintapalli and Paderu mandals.

Some of the violent incidents that have occurred in these areas since June 2006 include blasting of the coffee pulper units at Lankapakalu, Pedavalasa and Kumkumpudi, torching of the jeep of the divisional manager at Yerravaram and setting on fire the office records and furniture in GK Veedhi mandal.

The Maoists also conducted a famine raid along with a large group of tribals and looted 59 MTs of coffee in Pedavalasa drying yards in the same mandal. The loss in these incidents was put around Rs 20 lakh.

Complaints have been lodged with the local police and the matter was brought to the notice of the director-general of police who instructed the local police to take all steps to protect the properties of APFDC.

The APFDC officials, however, apprehend that once the coffee harvesting season commences at the end of this year, the Maoists would resume violence.

WARANGAL: The police on Wednesday arrested Indian Journalist Union (IJU) national council member and former president of Warangal Working Journalist Union Pendyala Venkata Kondal Rao, charging him with being a sympathiser of the outlawed Maoists.

The Andhra Pradesh Working Journalists Union too expressed concern over foisting of ‘false’ cases on Kondal Rao and both demanded that the cases be withdrawn. Superintendent of Police Soumya Mishra assured to take appropriate action. Police registered cases against the arrested and produced them in the court on Wednesday evening. They have been sent to five days remand.

Police said top Maoist leader Ganesh had sent Rs 5 lakh in cash through a dalam member to Kondal Rao, for procuring party literature and other material and supply them through the APCLC leader Prabhakar. The police raided his house in Chinna Pendyala village in Station Ghanapur Mandal on Wednesday morning and seized Rs 5 lakh in cash and party literature. Chikkudu Prabhakar was present in the house during the police raid.

Kondal Rao’s mother Saraswati said that the police had foisted cases on her son as he was nephew of revolutionary writer Vara Vara Rao. She said that the seized money was hers kept for some land transactions.

Kondal Rao knew APCLC leader Prabhakar as a journalist and he did not have any relations either with Prabhakar or the Maoists, she added.

WARANGAL: The police on Wednesday arrested Indian Journalist Union (IJU) national council member and former president of Warangal Working Journalist Union Pendyala Venkata Kondal Rao, charging him with being a sympathiser of the outlawed Maoists.

The Andhra Pradesh Working Journalists Union too expressed concern over foisting of ‘false’ cases on Kondal Rao and both demanded that the cases be withdrawn. Superintendent of Police Soumya Mishra assured to take appropriate action. Police registered cases against the arrested and produced them in the court on Wednesday evening. They have been sent to five days remand.

Police said top Maoist leader Ganesh had sent Rs 5 lakh in cash through a dalam member to Kondal Rao, for procuring party literature and other material and supply them through the APCLC leader Prabhakar. The police raided his house in Chinna Pendyala village in Station Ghanapur Mandal on Wednesday morning and seized Rs 5 lakh in cash and party literature. Chikkudu Prabhakar was present in the house during the police raid.

Kondal Rao’s mother Saraswati said that the police had foisted cases on her son as he was nephew of revolutionary writer Vara Vara Rao. She said that the seized money was hers kept for some land transactions.

Kondal Rao knew APCLC leader Prabhakar as a journalist and he did not have any relations either with Prabhakar or the Maoists, she added.